Language Flashcards
(36 cards)
Words ending in y
— keep y if y is after a vowel
Ex. Pay -> paying
— drop y, replace w i, if after consonant
Ex. Bully -> bullying
Ex. Bully -> bullied
Words ending in c
— suffix begins w e, i, or y add a k at the end
Ex. Mimic —> mimicking
Ex. Panic —> panicky
Words that contain ie or ei
Most words spelled w ie, except if followed by a c or sound like a
Ex. Piece,friend, believe ( i before e)
Ex. Receive, ceiling, conceited (except after c)
Ex. Weight, neighborhood, veil ( sounds like a)
Words ending w/ e
Determine if e is silent
—— keep e if suffix begins w a consonant
Ex. Age —> ageless
—— drop e is suffix starts w vowel
Ex age —-> aging
exception if ends w -ce or -ge, -able or -ous —— keep e
Ex courage— courageous
Ex. Notice — noticeable
Words ending w -ceed
Only 3 words
-exceed
-proceed
-succeed
Words ending w -sede
Only 1 word —— supersede
Rules for plural forms: Nouns ending in y
Nouns ends w consonant and y — replace w -ies
Ex. Puppy— puppies
Ex. Fly — flies
Noun ends w vowel and y — add s
Ex. Alley — alleys
Ex. Boy — boys
Plural forms: nouns ending in - f or -fe
Replace f w/ v and adding es
Ex. Knife —knives
Ex. Self — selves
Ex. Wolf — wolves
- exception is roof. It just turns to roofs*
Plural forms: nouns ending in o
Nouns ending w consonant and o —- add -es
Ex. Hero — heroes
Ex. Tornado — tornadoes
Ex. Potato — potatoes
Ending w a vowel and o — add s
Ex. Portfolio — portfolios
Ex. Radio — radios
Ex. Cameo — cameos
- exception are w musical terms ending in o. Just add an s*
Ex. Soprano — sopranos
Ex. Banjo — banjos
Plural forms : letters, numbers, and symbols
Add an apostrophe and s
Ex. The L’s are the people whose names begin w the letter L
Ex. They broke the teams down into groups of 3’s
Ex. The sorority girls were all KD’s
Plural forms : compound nouns
Made of two or more words. Sometimes made w hyphens
To make plural: an s or es is added to the noun portion of the word
Ex. Mother-in-law -» mothers-in-law
Ex. Court-martial —> courts-martial
Commonly confused words : which, that, and who
Which : used for things only
Ex. Andrew’s car, which is old and rusty, broke down last week.
That: for people or things… used informally to describe people
Ex. Is this the only book that Louis L’amour wrote.
Ex. Is Louis L’amour the author that wrote Western novels?
Who : for people or for animals that have a name
Ex. Mozart was the composer who wrote those operas.
Ex. John’s dog, who is called Max, is large and fierce.
Homophones
That/then
Its/it’s
Affect/effect
Than/then
Words that sound alike, but diff spelling and definitions
Than/then
Than: only for comparisons
Ex. Susie likes chips better than candy
Then: indicates sequence or order
Ex. I’m going to run to the library and then come home
It’s/its
Its: pronoun that shows ownership
Ex. The guitar is in its case
It’s: contraction of it is
Ex. It’s an honor and a privilege to meet u
Affect and effect
Affect (n) feeling,emotion, or mood
Ex. The patient had a flat affect.
Affect (v) alter,to change, to influence
Ex. The sunshine affects the plants growth.
Effect(n) a result, a consequence
Ex. What effect will this weather have on our schedule?
Effect (v) to bring about, to cause to be
Ex. These new rules will effect order in the office
Punctuation: periods
For all sentences except direct questions,exclamations
Declarative sentence : gives information or make a statement
Ex. I can fly a kite. | the plane left two hours ago.
Imperative sentence: gives and order or command
Ex. You are coming with me. | bring me that note.
Periods for abbreviations
Ex. 3 P.M. | Pennsylvania Ave. | Mr.jones
Punctuation: question marks
Followed by a direct question. Polite questions are followed by a period
Direct question: what is for lunch today? |how are you? | Why is that the answer?
Polite requests: can you please send me the item tomorrow. | will u please walk w me on the track.
punctuation: commas (rules)
Before a coordinating conjunction joining a independent clause
Ex. Bob caught three fish, and i caught two fish.
After an introductory phrase
Ex. After the final out, we went to a restaurant to celebrate.
After an adverbial clause
Ex. Studying the stars, i was awed by the beauty of the sky.
Between items in a series
Ex. I will bring the turkey, the pie, and the coffee.
For interjections
Ex. Wow, you know how to play this game
Yes or no responses
Ex. No, i cannot come tomorrow
Separate nonessential modifiers
Ex. John frank, who coaches the team, was promoted today.
Separate nonessential appositives
Ex. Thomas Edison, an American inventor, was born in Ohio.
Separate nouns of direct address
Ex. You, john, are my only hope in this moment.
Separate interrogative tags
Ex. This is the last time, correct?
Separate contrasts
Ex. You are my friend, not my enemy.
-writing dates, writing addresses, writing geographical names, titles, separate expressions like he/she said-
Between coordinate adjectives
Ex. The kind,loyal dog followed me home
Incorrect: the kind,brown dog followed me home. adjectives must be similar in order to have a comma
Punctuation:semicolons (rules)
Between closely connected independent clauses not connected with a coordinating conjunction
Ex. You are right; we should go with your plan.
Between independent clauses linked with a transitional word
Ex. I think that we can agree on this; however, i am not sure about my friends.
Between items in a series that has internal punctuation
Ex. I have visited New York,new York ; Augusta, Maine; and Baltimore, Maryland.
Punctuation: colons (rules)
After an independent clause to make a list
Ex. I want to learn many languages: Spanish, German, and Italian.
For explanations
Ex. There is one thing that stands out on your resume: responsibility
To give a quote
Ex. He started with an idea: “ we are able to do more than we imagine.”
Greeting in a formal letter
Ex. To whom it may concern:
Show hours and mins
Ex. It is 3:14 p.m.
Separate a title and subtitle
Ex. The essay is titled “America: A Short Introduction to a Modern Country”.
Punctuation: parentheses
Used for additional information:
To put labels for letters
ex. The rattlesnake (see image 2) is a dangerous snake of North and South America.
Series
Ex. Include in the email (1) your name, (2) your address, and (3) your question for the author.
Punctuations: quotation marks
Used for direct quotations not indirect quotes
Direct quote: Nancy said, “ I am waiting for Henry to arrive.”
Indirect quote: Henry said that he is going to be late to the meeting.
Use single quotation marks to close off a quote inside a quote
Ex. The teacher asked, “Has everyone read ‘ The Gift of the Magi’?”
Quotation marks around titles of short works
Ex. “Rip Van Winkle” (short story by Washington Irving)
Ex. “O Captain! My Captain!” (Poem by Walt Whitman
To highlight irony or the use of words to mean something other than their dictionary definition
Ex. The boss warned frank that he was walking on “thin ice” —> not really walking on real ice. Being warned to avoid mistakes
Ex. The teacher thanked the young man for his “honesty”. —> the teacher does not believe the man’s explanation
Punctuation: apostrophes
Used to show possession or the deletion of letters in contractions
Singular nouns: David’s car | a book’s theme | my brother’s board game
Plural nouns with -s : the scissors’ handle | boys’ Basketball. * nouns that already have an s*
Plural nouns without -s : Men’s department | the people’s adventure
Punctuation:hyphens
To separate compound words
Ex. Compound numbers from 21 to 99 —> twenty-five
Ex. Written-out fractions —> three-fourths
Ex. Compound adjectives that come before a noun —> the well-fed dog took a nap.
Ex. Unusual compound words that are hard to read or easily confused with other words —> this is the best anti-itch cream on the market.
Punctuation: dashes
To show a break or change in thought or to act as a parentheses in a sentence
don’t put a space before or after the dash
Ex. Set off parenthetical statements or an appositive with internal punctuation —> the three trees—oak,pine,and magnolia—are coming on a truck tomorrow.
Ex. Show a break or change in tone/thought —> the first question—how silly of me—does not have a correct answer.
Punctuation: ellipsis marks
3 periods (…) to show when words have been removed
4 periods (….) to show that a full sentence or more is removes
Ex. “Then he picked up the groceries…paid for them…later he went home.”
